Poetry isn’t dead

“Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.” – Plutarch

The audience at Natividad Fajardo-Rosario Gonzales auditorium was silent last November 13, when DLSU Writer’s Guild organized Reverie: Lost in Words, an event that showcased Filipino spoken word poets both individually and in groups. Everyone’s gaze was transfixed on the stage. No one dared to speak whenever a poet was on stage, for fear that even one word would not be heard. Then, one by one, poets approached the stage to tell the audience stories. The poems struck the audience’s hearts, with some standing out, such as Carlos Valdes’ Rhythm Zero and Jonnah Dayuta’s Receipts.

Spoken word is a kind of poetry wherein poems are not only confined to the page but rather, through memorization, performed on stage. It focuses more on word play and story-telling and heavily relies on the poet’s delivery to get its message and depth across, building from the age-old art of poetry.

Contrary to popular belief, spoken word poetry did not begin as of late. The tradition of orally passing down historical and cultural knowledge exists in many cultures, particularly in Africa and Greece. Meanwhile, modern day spoken word poetry existed in the underground Black community during the sixties with The Last Poets, a poetry and political music group born out of the African-American Civil Rights movement. Even Martin Luther’s I Have A Dream speech and Soujurner Truth’s Ain’t I A Woman have heavily influenced history. Now following in their footsteps, the DLSU Writer’s Guild seeks to expose the art of spoken word poetry to the rest of the Lasallian community.

Reverie: Lost in Words

When asked about their inspiration for Reverie, Joshua Crescini, one of the organizers, says, “We’ve noticed that there haven’t been any events of spoken word poetry actually happening inside La Salle. Usually we organize it with external cafés so we thought, why not bring it here? To hopefully make it more accessible to our members, to the students and at the same time give the art form of Spoken Word poetry exposure within the Lasallian community.”

“Plus, there’s a number of people who’re actually into Spoken Word poetry, especially inside La Salle… This is the first time we did a spoken word night where we invited people from White Wall, Words Anonymous, alumni, and even students who were actually into spoken word poetry to perform,” shares Hannah Pabalan, Writer’s Guild Executive Vice President of Activities.

Spoken Word in the Philippines

Spoken word is slowly but steadily gaining momentum in the country.

“It’s more like, how indie music is popular. It’s not a big niche but it’s a niche nonetheless. Like when you see cafés in and out the Taft area like Sev’s café or other cafes that hold slam poetry night,” Writer’s Guild’s president, Robert Coloso states.

“I think it’s like a growing art form here in the Philippines. It’s not mainstream enough to be in the media.” He then goes on to mention On the Wings of Love, a show in ABS-CBN and how they do a poetry segment. “So maybe now it’s getting more mainstream but it’s ultimately still a growing art form,” Joshua says. Hannah adds to that, saying, “Because of Juan Miguel Severo, spoken word is getting more popular in the country. “

Rising in the spoken word scene are groups like Words Anonymous and White Wall Poetry, which aim to further the exposure of poetry in the country through performances. White Wall Poetry focuses more on immersing poets into the vibrant literary and artistic scene of the country, while Words Anonymous simply focuses on one poem at a time to achieve its goal.

Also, earlier this year, poets Phil Kaye and Sarah Kay, founders of Project V.O.I.C.E, performed in Manila last March 1 and 2. Project V.O.I.C.E aims to use spoken word poetry as a means to entertain, inspire, and educate.

The beginning of the beginning

Since its rise in popularity, spoken word has been an effective outlet for people to express their views on different subjects. Because it is free-form, any topic under the sun can be used as motivation for a poem. During Reverie, topics ranged from talking about losing love, to bullying, to dignity, and even to death.

How will spoken word grow in the country? Joshua says, “It will grow really well. Given the response to the activity, people seemed to really enjoy it. I saw tweets (a hashtag was made before the event) while the performances were going on. There were a lot of first-timers in the crowd [that] were really blown away by the performance. Given the effect spoken word poetry can have on people, I feel like it’s going to be a really big thing in the Philippines, if not now, then sometime in the future.”

“Spoken word poetry [in the Philippines] has given such an impact both on the writers and to the audience. I guess it affects them. It’s [somehow] a form of expression, a form of art,” Hanah explains. “It’s something that [makes] you feel. I think people would love to have something to feel and [something] to grasp on. Like when a poet performs a piece and you go ‘I felt this way’, you see the effect it has on people.”

“As more people get into it, it’s going to continuously grow until half the population could actually be into spoken word,” she concludes.

“If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” ― Emily Dickinson